John Travolta Cries 'Fake News' Over Reports of 'Gotti' Biopic Being Pulled

Gretchen Simon

John Travolta-starrer "Gotti" has been dropped by Lionsgate ten days prior to its domestic release.

To recap, Gotti was set to hit theaters on December 15, which is why yesterday's report that distributor Lionsgate had opted to sell the film back to its producers caught so many off guard.

In an interview with Deadline published late last night, Travolta characterised the reports on the film as "speculation bordering on fake news". They said no, twice, and I literally begged them to reconsider and they finally and generously let it go.

And now Travolta is clarifying reports surrounding the news, insisting he simply wanted the movie to have a wider release than the one that was planned by Lionsgate bosses.

"It wasn't dropped. It wasn't easy to get Lionsgate to give it up. We didn't anticipate this speculation that is so grossly wrong" - that his film would "sleep with the fishes".

According to Morgan, the producers are now negotiating with two studios that are interested in releasing the project with the aim of premiering Gotti at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

John Travolta squashed his own film with hopes that it would get better play somewhere else.

The FBI indicted members of Gotti's crew for selling narcotics and he took advantage of growing dissent over the leadership of the crime family. He says that he actually worked on getting a bigger producer to buy the film - and it worked. Gotti's son, John Gotti Jr., is one of the film's executive producers. It is unclear if the film will find new distribution or when it's now scheduled to debut.

Walson has said that he's planning on taking the film to Cannes, and then securing a wide release for the film after that - so who knows, really? Gotti was convicted in 1992 and died in prison in 2002 while serving a life sentence. It also features Travolta's wife Kelly Preston as the crime lord's spouse Victoria Gotti, and their daughter Ella Bleu Travolta as Angel Gotti, as well as Pruitt Taylor Vince, Stacy Keach, Chris Mulkey and Lydia Hull.

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